


Miscommunication

by KinomiAkai



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Complete, Friends to Lovers, Lead Singer!Sasuke, M/M, Oneshot, Roadie!Naruto, Romance, but not really, it's just a oneshot and there's barely even any music involved, okay so it's kind of a band fic, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 17:36:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9395960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KinomiAkai/pseuds/KinomiAkai
Summary: Naruto's been a roadie for Sasuke's band for nearly ten years. Maybe it's time for Sasuke to finally be honest. Oneshot, AU. Complete!





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!
> 
> A/N: so I follow the AU suggestions twitter, and this one grabbed a hold of me. I hope you enjoy!

Sasuke moved further along the back of the trailer, careful to remain quiet. He wasn't usually one to eavesdrop, but…

"Well, it's just something to consider, Naruto."

Sasuke frowned. That voice sounded so familiar—but it wasn't one of his crew. Who was talking to Naruto?

He rounded the corner, fighting to keep out of sight as he nudged forwards just enough to see…

Neji. Hyuuga Neji—his former bassist. They hadn't parted on particularly bad terms, but they certainly didn't keep in touch. Sasuke had heard he had started his own band, and that was about the extent of it. What was he doing _here_?

"Yeah, and I've considered it, but—"

"Don't give me your answer now," Neji interrupted him, "consider it. We'd love to have you—and, honestly, Naruto, seriously think about it. Sasuke is just one man. He has his band, but it's a one-man show. There's only so much complexity you can add to it. It's a waste of your talent. Besides, you and I both know he's a…fickle person. He never keeps anyone around forever. I know you've stuck around for a while, but—you can't rely on somebody like that. Let me give you my number."

Sasuke watched as Neji took out his phone and gestured for Naruto to do the same, smiling that bland, ugly smile all the while. Sasuke nearly snarled—but he settled for backing away as quickly as he could.

If Naruto wanted to leave—he was a damn good roadie and he'd been with him for what…seven—almost eight years—but if he wanted to leave, then he—then he—

He slammed the door shut behind him and sagged against the wall. The only person he had been able to stomach as long as he had stomached Naruto was his manager: Kakashi. Sakura, he supposed, had also been around for a decent amount of time, but Naruto had been the one to recommend her as a stylist…

Surely he wasn't seriously considering leaving. Naruto was as loyal as they came, and he had stuck around for this long, and surely Naruto knew that if Sasuke honestly wanted him gone, he would be—

But Neji was right. Naruto was an incredibly talented person—and Sasuke was only one man. He didn't need all of Naruto's skill for his music; it was just the nature of the show—he didn't _need_ fancy lights or elaborate sound. Naruto could do their current set up in a flash, and occasionally would emergency sub-in for a band member, but none of that was a challenge to him. Not even a little bit. If working for Sasuke was holding Naruto back…

He sighed, holding his head in his hands. He…didn't want Naruto to leave. He really, really didn't. He…

Sasuke jumped as someone knocked on the door. He sprung to his feet as Naruto didn't bother to wait for an answer before coming in.

"Yo! Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded in response, his mouth set in a firm line. Had Naruto come to tell him he was leaving already? Surely his mind hadn't been made up that quickly—but here he was…

"D'you have a—" Naruto looked him up and down, "are you okay?"

Sasuke didn't answer, instead pinning him with a hard stare. He forced his jaw to unclench.

His stomach turned as his mouth opened.

"When are you going?"

"I…what?"

"With Neji," Sasuke steeled his expression, swallowing several times, "when are you going?"

There was a brief flash of surprise across Naruto's face, and then it made a slow transition into…amusement?

"Sasuke—are you serious?"

Sasuke frowned.

"I've been with you for three albums—nearly ten years! Why would I leave now?"

Neji's words flashed through Sasuke's mind.

Naruto's gaze darted over his face, and he sighed.

"You were listening?"

Naruto was always far too perceptive at the worst of times.

"I was."

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Did you hear the part where I told him to go fuck himself?"

Sasuke blinked.

" _Enough_ ," Naruto mocked, "yeah. I'm pretty sure that bridge is burnt."

Ah.

Well.

Sasuke felt like a bit of an idiot.

"You're such an asshole," Naruto shook his head, smiling, "you really thought I was gonna leave? For _Neji's_ band? Come on."

"I—" Sasuke spluttered, his voice failing him.

Naruto just laughed at him. "I don't even know why he was asking me, anyways. Well, I have an idea, but…"

"You're good at your job," Sasuke muttered, frowning.

Naruto rolled his eyes again, "yeah, but I'm not _that_ good."

Debatable.

"Besides, who does that? Like—poaching other bands' roadies? The whole thing was just so fucking weird."

"It was…strange," Sasuke relented.

"Yeah," Naruto nudged himself up from his place of leaning against the wall, "anyways—you good now? You're gonna stop glaring at me like a dick?"

Sasuke gave him a look.

"Okay, okay, I know you're always a dick, but you're gonna be less of one now, right?"

Oh—oh, but this was too easy—Sasuke felt himself fight a smirk—

"I thought you liked dicks?"

The look on Naruto's face was absolutely priceless, and one hundred percent worth it. It took a good few seconds before his face broke into a gaping smile, eyes still wide.

"Was that a gay joke? From _Uchiha Sasuke_?!"

Sasuke smirked and shrugged, casually looking away.

"Oh my god," Naruto grabbed at the doorframe, as if he needed it to keep upright, "I can't believe it. I never thought I'd live to see the day."

That made Sasuke look back at the blonde, who was still grinning, although with a bit less laughter than before. Now, he just looked…pleased. Very happy.

Sasuke shrugged again.

There was a pause.

"Does it still make you uncomfortable?"

Naruto's smile had dimmed, and Sasuke noticed that his hand had moved to rest on the doorknob, as if Naruto was readying himself to flee the room. His voice was light, but quiet—as if this was something that had bothered him for a while.

It likely was.

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, "it never bothered me."

"Sasuke," Naruto's voice was disbelieving, "come on. I don't mind; I'd rather you be straight with me."

"Interesting choice of words," Sasuke muttered back—that, at least, got the blonde to smile again. But he didn't respond, only watching Sasuke with curious, bright blue eyes.

"It never bothered me," Sasuke said again.

"Sasuke…you—you stopped talking to me for like two months. Even longer—you—"

"That wasn't," Sasuke interrupted, "that wasn't about…"

Sasuke sighed. That whole thing had been a disaster. It had been, kind of, about Naruto being gay. But it hadn't been because he was uncomfortable with it—that would be awfully hypocritical, not that Naruto knew that…but as much as he didn't want to bare his heart to Naruto, it didn't seem like the blonde was going to believe him anytime soon if he didn't…

"Okay," he shifted his posture, thinking about how to phrase this, "I had known you for what—two years?"

"Technically, yeah," Naruto nodded, "you avoided the hell outta me in the first one, though."

Sasuke threw Naruto a smirk. Yes, he had—but Naruto had apparently caught onto him after that, and had made it his mission to make Sasuke's life hell. Or to spend time with him. Either or.

"We were—talking," Sasuke paused, thinking, "but we weren't—I mean we were almost friends, but not—"

"We were getting to know each other, yeah," Naruto said.

"Yes, that. But I didn't—know you. And I didn't know why you wanted to…know me."

"Yeah. So then you found out I was gay and figured I was some sort of creepy stalker. I know that part."

Well, okay, that was technically correct, but—

"You're missing the _point_ ," Sasuke exhaled, running a hand through his hair in frustration, "I wasn't angry that you were gay—or that you might have been attracted to me, or whatever," Sasuke waved a hand, "I was angry that I…you felt like—you felt like a friend. To me. I don't have those often. You know that. And I was angry that you—that, ah, what we had wasn't…real. I felt like I had been tricked, I guess. Kind of."

Sasuke sighed again. He was explaining this terribly.

Naruto tilted his head to lean against the doorframe, "so you don't secretly think being gay is gross?"

"No!" Sasuke snapped.

Naruto smiled wider, and shook his head a little, "and you couldn't have told me this _years_ ago so I didn't have to make every single goddamn effort to hide my personal life from your band?"

Sasuke blinked at him.

Naruto crossed his arms.

"Y'know I've gotten dumped before because I was being 'too weird' about my work? Because I'd be super vague about it?"

He—what?

"You are such a dick."

"You could have brought it up," Sasuke muttered, feeling his cheeks warm. He didn't really _mind_ that Naruto hadn't been bringing around boyfriends to the tours or the shows, but he did mind that Naruto had been keeping so much from him…

"Uh huh, I could've," Naruto grinned, "but I didn't really wanna get ignored for another few months, sooo…"

Sasuke fought not to flinch. Him finding out about Naruto's sexuality had been a total accident, and Sasuke had reacted horribly. He had lashed out at Naruto—and Naruto, instead of lashing back as Sasuke had deserved, had curled his hand into a fist, stared at Sasuke with cold eyes and then left. It was the last time they spoke about anything non-work related for months. Even after Sasuke came to realize that Naruto obviously _hadn't_ joined the team because he was some Uchiha Sasuke fanatic, and Sasuke had realized that he really didn't quite understand _why_ his reaction to Naruto being gay had been so violent—he hadn't known how to approach Naruto. And Naruto hadn't wanted to be approached; it seemed like every time he had to talk to Sasuke, he'd keep it as short as possible. Sasuke swore that there were even times where Naruto would actively leave the room when Sasuke had been around.

But the anger had faded, and this time, it had been Sasuke's turn to seek Naruto out. It hadn't been easy—Naruto's opinion of him had obviously been damaged—but after enough of using Naruto's room to practice, taking his notebook and sitting beside Naruto to write, and insisting that no, it was only Naruto that could fulfil this particular request and they needed to find him _immediately_ , Naruto had finally started to warm up to him again. And then Sasuke had started to realize that he and Naruto might have had their sexuality in common—but at that point, it was far too late.

"Sorry," he couldn't even look at Naruto when he said it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the blonde's smile falter.

"What was that?"

"Ah," Sasuke raised his voice, and his head, a little, "I said I'm sorry. About—all that."

There was a pause.

"Shit," Naruto voice was almost breathless, "you really did think I was gonna leave with Neji, didn't you?"

"What?" Sasuke's head snapped up.

Naruto was staring at him, his face an odd mix of surprise, worry and humour.

"You—" Naruto's face broke into a smile for a moment, "you never apologize."

Sasuke frowned.

"I do."

"Okay— _almost_ never apologize."

"I only apologize if I mean it," Sasuke cleared his throat, and moved his shoulders back to stand a little straighter, "and I mean it."

"Will you say it again?"

"No."

Naruto snickered.

"Bastard."

"Idiot."

They met each other's gaze for a long moment.

Sasuke moved first, sliding past Naruto to leave the room. Naruto trotted alongside him.

"So does this mean I get to tell you about my personal life?"

"No."

"Aw—what! Why?"

"Because I don't want to know," he answered with surprising honestly. Naruto was wonderful and attractive and outgoing and Sasuke was sure that he would no doubt be happily dating someone—and he just—he didn't want to know about the person who Naruto would choose over him. He really didn't.

"What if I tell you about the really bad ones?"

"The what?" Sasuke turned the corner, fishing through his keys.

"I've got it," Naruto nudged past him with his own set of keys—of course, Naruto had access to pretty much everything, "like okay—you gotta at least hear about this, I've been dying to tell you—there was this one guy that was straight up obsessed with you. Like number one fan status, but a million times worse. And to this day I have no idea if he knew who I was or not, but the _entire_ time it was _killing_ me because he was spouting all this bullshit and he was so wrong! He was so fucking wrong! Gaah!"

Sasuke bit down on a laugh.

"Seriously—it was all 'oh yeah, I've been to every concert that Sasuke's ever played; even the ones that weren't publicized. Did you know they did a show in Niagara Falls? I was there.' And _no_ we have _never_ done a show in Niagara Falls—and, oh my god, my favourite was that he said you only used cinnamon-flavoured toothpaste and because mint is bad for your singing voice. Like what the fuck? And he said that every night before a show, you'd sleep wearing silk gloves so that nothing would damage your hands and I dunno what kind of fucking kink that is, but—"

Sasuke had transitioned into full-blown chuckling, and it made Naruto pause and laugh with him.

"God. It was so bad."

"Did he spend the entire date talking about me?"

"Yep. And I couldn't even correct him 'cause I figured if I ever told him anything about you, you'd somehow find out and come for my balls."

Sasuke snorted.

"Smart of you."

"Thanks," Naruto threw him a smile, settling down in one of the chairs. Sasuke paced back and forth past the instruments, debating as to what he felt like playing.

"Let's see, what else…" Naruto pulled his legs up onto the chair and crossed them, "there was one guy who left in between every meal to brush his teeth—I mean like, appetizer, food, dessert. He ordered all three, too, and he was super proud of it. He kept trying to convince me that I should do it too. There was one guy who lied in his photo—like not even that it was an old photo, it was just straight up someone else. Decent enough guy though, in the end." Naruto scratched his chin in thought.

"Online dating?"

"Yeah," Naruto brushed some hair away from his eyes, "we're always travelling. How else did you think I'd find a date?"

Sasuke shrugged, looking away. He could feel the words building up inside him and he fought to hold them back—the question had been burning in him for years, and now—they were already talking about the topic and it wasn't completely out of the blue—

"Were you ever interested in me?"

Naruto stared at him for a long moment.

"Sasuke…" his voice had a hint of warning, "what do you want me to say? I thought I made it clear that my personal life would never interfere with my work."

"That's not an answer," Sasuke pointed out.

"Yeah, and I'm not going to give you an answer, because either way will be something you're displeased with."

"Not necessarily," Sasuke frowned.

"Sasuke—no. Drop the subject."

Sasuke turned his frown to his guitar, and strummed a couple notes.

"…stop sulking."

Sasuke didn't look at Naruto, "I'm not sulking."

"Yes, you are, asshole."

Sasuke continued playing.

"Come on—Sasuke, you know that I trust you and that you're the—one of the most important people in my life. It's not any of that."

Sasuke's mouth twitched, "I know that."

"Okay," Naruto rocked back on the chair, "so why are you being grumpy?"

Sasuke paused, and then shrugged. He knew exactly why he was being like this, but he wasn't about to tell Naruto that part of his disastrous reaction to Naruto being gay had been the result of his own denial.

"Sasukeeee," Naruto's voice had definitely started to turn into more of a whine.

"Yes?" He continued playing. Nothing in particular, just something to warm his fingers up.

"Stop being a butthead."

Sasuke's fingers paused and he stared up at Naruto, who was pressing his lips together, face flushed red, in an obvious attempt to hold back laughter.

"Butthead?" Sasuke repeated incredulously. Naruto broke, and laughed himself silly.

"That's a first," Sasuke muttered to himself, not bothering to fight the smile.

"Yeah, you're a butthead, alright," Naruto put himself back together enough to say, still smiling. Sasuke rolled his eyes and went back to fiddling with the strings.

"New song?" Naruto asked after a moment.

"No," Sasuke answered simply.

There was another pause.

"Okay— _okay_ , you manipulative bastard!" Naruto glared at him. Sasuke looked up innocently.

"You're such an asshole. Fine. I did have a bit of a crush in my second year working here, but then you pulled that attitude after you found out I was gay and it was pretty much the most effective turn off I've ever experienced. That good enough?" Naruto leaned forward in his chair, resting his forearms on his legs. Sasuke's gaze darted back down to his guitar.

Sasuke shrugged, swallowing against the lump in his throat. Really, what had he expected? He had asked a stupid question and gotten the obvious answer. His finger missed a string, and he paused his playing, closing his eyes.

"Why am I the only one sharing shit today? You say something," Naruto's voice broke him out of his reverie, and forced his eyes open.

"Like what?" He put his guitar to the side, feeling the pain in his chest settle into a dull ache.

"I dunno."

Sasuke frowned and looked down at his hands. There wasn't much he could tell Naruto that the idiot hadn't already found out for himself at some point along the years—besides the obvious, anyways. Although…

Sasuke stood and started shuffling through the instruments, moving towards the desk in the back.

"What's up?" Naruto trotted over to follow him.

Sasuke didn't write songs often—he preferred to delegate that task to his bandmates the majority of the time—but he had been working on something recently…and it was always useful to get Naruto's opinion…

Sasuke scowled at the desk, flipping through the pages to find the copy he had been happy with. He skimmed it over for anything incriminating. It had been quick—at something like 3 or 4 in the morning he had been so overflowing with doubt and self-pity that it had forced him out of bed and to the desk.

"There," he passed the paper to Naruto, satisfied that it only spoke of his yearning for someone in an abstract sense—nothing about blonde hair or blue eyes.

He watched Naruto's face carefully as he read it—noting that the blonde's hands gripped the paper gently, almost reverently.

Naruto's eyes widened as he skimmed through it, and he lowered the paper with hands that almost looked like they were shaking.

"You wrote this?" He whispered, still staring at the words.

Sasuke frowned at the reaction.

"Is it not good?"

"No—no! It's really—it's great, the fans'll go nuts, especially when they hear _you_ wrote it—it's just…I had—I didn't know that you were…in love with someone," Naruto's voice was quiet.

"I'm not in love," he was quick to deny, pulling the paper back towards himself—Naruto seemed hesitant to let go of it, but he eventually did so, "I'm just interested in someone that I can't have. It's not that dramatic."

"It sounds dramatic," Naruto gestured towards the paper, before his face fell into a more thoughtful expression, "Someone you can't have? Who can't you have?"

Sasuke stared at him.

"I mean—you kind of have the world at your feet. At least, from everyone we know," Naruto scratched his chin.

"I'm glad you think so highly of me," Sasuke said carefully.

"I mean it. You could have your pick. Is it Sakura? She likes you, you know."

"Don't think too hard about it, idiot," Sasuke shoved the paper back onto the desk and made to move past Naruto, "you'll hurt yourself."

"Ass," Naruto punched his shoulder as he passed by. Sasuke threw him a smirk that he didn't quite feel, but felt something grab ahold of his arm before he could slide all the way by Naruto.

The blonde's gaze was still far too speculative for comfort, and the instruments littering the room made this particular spot to be quite the tight squeeze—Sasuke fought to calm his heart as he raised an elegant eyebrow at Naruto (any faster and the idiot would be able to _feel_ his heart beating from how close together they were).

"Sasuke," Naruto's face was serious, "how long have you loved this person?"

Sasuke's eye twitched, "not love, dunce—"

"You sure?"

"…You're asking a lot of questions," Sasuke commented.

"So were you, a second ago," Naruto countered.

They stared at each other. Naruto's grip on his arm didn't falter—in fact, it seemed to grow tighter.

Sasuke was really starting to feel uncomfortable—he was practically pressed up against Naruto, he could literally feel his body heat and it was doing things to him that he did not entirely appreciate at the moment—

"Sasuke?" Naruto had a glint in his eye—something that Sasuke didn't recognize.

"Yeah?" Even to his own ears, his voice sounded breathless.

"Don't fire me."

"Wh—"

Oh.

Naruto was kissing him.

Naruto was—about to pull away—oh no he was _not_ —

All at once, Sasuke's senses came alive, and he grabbed Naruto with such ferocity that the blonde stumbled backwards—

They toppled to the ground, Sasuke falling on top of Naruto. Naruto broke the kiss to look around, eyes wide and panicked as a cymbal crashed to the floor, but Sasuke didn't care. He pushed forward and pressed his lips against Naruto's—relishing in how the blonde's eyes fluttered closed as he relaxed into the kiss.

This time, when they pulled apart, it was for air.

"I thought you were straight?" Naruto said, panting a little.

"I thought I turned you off me," Sasuke countered.

Naruto laughed, "yeah, well…then you started being nice and shit."

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered, leaning forwards to kiss him. He pulled back, sitting on his ankles. Naruto followed him just enough to stay close.

"That was around the same time I started figuring out I wasn't totally straight," Sasuke offered.

"What? Really?"

"Started," Sasuke repeated, "I didn't come to terms with it until the next year. I told my family two years after that."

" _That's_ why your dad was being such a prick! Damnit, Sasuke, I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

Sasuke flinched a little, "I—I didn't know how to without…telling you how I knew."

"So you waited like five more years? You weren't even going to tell me, were you?"

"I didn't think that you—"

Naruto shut him up with a fierce kiss, grabbing ahold of Sasuke's collar and pulling him towards himself.

"You," Naruto said, as they pulled apart, "have so much time to make up for."

"I—ah," Sasuke swallowed several times, his eyes darting down to Naruto's lips, "should probably start now, then."

"Yeah," Naruto smiled, pulling him closer, "you better."

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? Did you like it? I seem to really enjoy writing resolution fics, haha!
> 
> Thank you all so much for your support!
> 
> \- Kinomi


End file.
